In a Dangerous Area, Hope Flies From Kalsu

By Sgt. Ben Brody

To see its Soldiers sprawled across couches and recliners, watching movies and casually chatting, it's hard to see how disciplined and proficient the medical evacuation crews of 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade really are.

Then the call comes in on a loudspeaker, "MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC, MEDEVAC!"

In an instant, the troops vanish, as if into thin air. The wail of helicopter engines starting up drifts in from the tarmac. And they're off.

The crews are allowed 15 minutes to get into the air, but on the morning of Sept. 12, they were up in five.

An Iraqi man had been hit by a car in Mahmudiyah, and his family brought him to U.S. troops. With severe head injuries, Soldiers knew the man's best chance for survival was in the hands of American doctors.

"Sixty or 70 percent of the calls we get are for Iraqis - civilians, military, police, and a lot of kids," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Rick Mallick, an instructor pilot with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment.

Minutes later, the crew of the Black Hawk known as Medicine Man 42 touched down at FOB Mahmudiyah and loaded the injured man into the helicopter.

Sgt. Reid Carpenter, a flight medic with Co. C, immediately went to work, changing the man's IV and checking his vital signs.

Carpenter, from Mauston, Wisc., is on his first Iraq deployment after extensive training at Fort Rucker, Ala., and said he has found his calling.

"It's a huge rush going out," he said. "The MEDEVAC call is something you hate to hear, but you've just got to get on the bird as fast as you can. When the helo is coming in and I can see the ground crew below, that's when the excitement peaks - that's when it's my time."

Tearing over the Tigris River valley toward Baghdad at 150 mph, the helicopters, which are not armed with machine guns in accordance with the Geneva Convention, carve a direct route to Taji Air Base.

"When we land in unsecured areas, it's more exciting, but also way more dangerous than landing on a FOB," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jerry Dickerson, a pilot with Co. C. "Other pilots plan their routes long in advance based on enemy threat. While we certainly take the threat into consideration, we also consider that there's someone dying out there and we need to get there as fast as possible."

Once back at Kalsu, the crew inspected their helicopters, replaced the flares that were fired and fueled up for the next mission. Votes were cast for the next movie to watch - Reno: 911 won by a landslide.

It would be another 24 hours before another call came in, this time from Patrol Base Murray, where two badly injured Iraqi policemen waited for evacuation.

Though they were both conscious and walking, one of the policemen had been shot in the face and leg; the other had been struck in the head with a hammer.

After the pickup, crew members brought the two men to the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad's International Zone, where they would undergo immediate surgery.

Flight medic Spc. Joe Penhale, of Co. C, escorted the wounded men into the CSH, and discussed their condition with a surgeon.

"The guy who was shot lost over a quart of blood, but he's going to survive because we got there in a hurry," said Penhale, from Marquette, Mich. "It's a great feeling."

Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com